북중러 3국의 협력 실태에 관한 세 가지 질문 = Three Questions on the Situations of Cooperation among Three Countries, North Korea, China and Russia

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The purpose of this paper is to understand the situations and characteristics of relationships among three countries, North Korea, China, and Russia in the 2000s. This paper presents the answers to three questions related to relations of three countries. The first question is whether the cooperation of three countries could be viewed as multilateral cooperation. The second is whether North Korea has recovered the partnerships with China and Russia. The third is whether the cooperation among North Korea, China and Russia accompanies a conflict with South Korea, the United States and Japan. The following results were discovered: Firstly, the recent collaboration among North Korea, China and Russia is the summation of three bilateral partnerships rather than multilateral cooperation among the three countries. The relationships between North Korea and China, and between North Korea and Russia are focused on the North Korean nuclear issue and economic cooperation. Secondly, North Korea, China, and Russia are not close allies but an amicable cooperative relationship is maintained based on mutual needs and strategic understandings. Thirdly, the relationship between NK-China-Russia and SK-US-Japan is dependent on the situation rather than being structural. It is true that there have been conflicts between NK-China-Russia and SK-US-Japan since the sinking of the Cheonan naval vessel and the incident on Yeonpyeong island. However, these relations are temporary for several reasons. A question for the future is to explore the conditions for Northeast Asian countries to maintain harmony and sustainable cooperation.